Riyadh:
Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's son issued a plea today for some country to accept members of his family seeking to leave Iran, where they have been held under house arrest since 2001.
After two of Omar bin Laden's siblings were released by Tehran to Syria in the past three months, he and his wife Zaina issued a statement pleading for a refuge for their other family members still in Iran, mentioning specifically Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"The Iranian government has nowhere to send Omar's other siblings," they wrote. "We beg of any country to help us, either from the east or the western world. These are just as much innocent victims as anyone else," they said. "We ask again for the UAE or Qatar to please help them."
The letter received by AFP named 23 people still living in the Tehran compound where the family has been held since fleeing overland from Afghanistan in 2001 ahead of the September 11 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States.
The group includes Osama bin Laden's sons, their wives, and children born both in Afghanistan and later in Tehran. Zaina, Omar's British wife, said that including others like in-laws the entire group numbers more than 30. Two of the family have been allowed to leave Iran. On December 25, Bakr bin Laden, 16, Osama's youngest son, flew to Damascus where he was reunited with his Syrian mother Najwa al-Ghanem, one of Osama bin Laden's several wives.
After two of Omar bin Laden's siblings were released by Tehran to Syria in the past three months, he and his wife Zaina issued a statement pleading for a refuge for their other family members still in Iran, mentioning specifically Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"The Iranian government has nowhere to send Omar's other siblings," they wrote. "We beg of any country to help us, either from the east or the western world. These are just as much innocent victims as anyone else," they said. "We ask again for the UAE or Qatar to please help them."
The letter received by AFP named 23 people still living in the Tehran compound where the family has been held since fleeing overland from Afghanistan in 2001 ahead of the September 11 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States.
The group includes Osama bin Laden's sons, their wives, and children born both in Afghanistan and later in Tehran. Zaina, Omar's British wife, said that including others like in-laws the entire group numbers more than 30. Two of the family have been allowed to leave Iran. On December 25, Bakr bin Laden, 16, Osama's youngest son, flew to Damascus where he was reunited with his Syrian mother Najwa al-Ghanem, one of Osama bin Laden's several wives.
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